Loss and Love
by Zodiac Sefirosu
Summary: What would happen if Seymour managed to escape from Baaj Island and washed up on Besaid instead? Rated M for future chapters.
1. New Place

These characters belong to Square Enix, not me.

* * *

"Mama! Papa!" A four-year old brunette girl cried while racing back to her home on the tropical island of Besaid, her cerulean skirt swishing around her legs as her oversized, colorless T-shirt flapped in the wind with a large, dark blue cat-like humanoid dashing after her.

The soon-to-be Summoner known as Braska leaned down and picked up his daughter as she rushed towards him. "What is it, my little Yuna?" He questioned as he noticed her panicked state.

"Someone washed up on the shore and he doesn't look good!" She informed him as she hopped out of her father's arms and grabbed his hand to try to drag him to the beach.

Braska hurriedly followed his daughter with his wife trailing behind them and soon beheld a boy no older than eight lying near-motionless on the coastline. He tenderly took the sopping-wet, sapphire-headed child into his arms and examined his tattered clothing, abnormally elongated, sharp fingernails, and the visible veins ringing his face. "He's not human, at least not completely. Well, we had better take care of him since it seems like his parents aren't around."

They headed back to their home with their newest, adopted addition to their family and tried to make him as comfortable as an unconscious, eight-year old boy in unfamiliar surroundings could get.

A couple of days after the strange boy's arrival, Yuna was sitting on her bed in her room, where he was recuperating on a cot, with two of her friends, Lulu and Wakka, along with her Ronso bodyguard, Kimahri. Lulu was already training to be a black mage and Wakka had gotten into blitzball. The Ronso had been with her since she was born, ever vigilant about her safety.

"Well, here he is." The small girl announced to her older friends. "We found him two days ago on the shore like a drowned rat and he still hasn't woken up." She tucked the blanket a little tighter around the bizarre youngster and he squirmed slightly at her action. "Plus he always does that if someone touches him."

Wakka looked down at the child's face with his head tilted slightly, making the carrot-colored wave of hair on his head appear crooked. "I think he looks kind of funny."

Lulu immediately elbowed him in the ribs lightly. "Coming from you. I read about a race like him in a book once. I think they're called Guado. He doesn't look like the ones in the book, though."

"Interesting. At least now we know what he is." Yuna said as she lightly ruffled his hair, not expecting him to wake up at the contact.

He opened his eyelids slowly until he could see, then instantly and rapidly crawled backwards and fell off the makeshift bed in his haste to get away from the little girl next to him. Unfortunately for him, the blanket that had been wrapped around him had ensnared him in its clutches, binding his limbs even further the more he continued to struggle.

Yuna gasped and hurriedly tried to free him from his cloth prison, only calming down when he had the blanket draped around his shoulders while the rest of it covered the rest of his body.

The boy looked up at her fearfully once he was freed. "W-where am I?" He asked her while shivering.

She looked at him curiously, not seeing why he should be fearful. After all, there were very few strong fiends on this island, all of them, regardless of strength, stayed away from the village, though, thanks to the crusaders. "Besaid Island." She replied to the trembling boy as she reached a hand out to try to soothingly stroke his hair.

He instantly recoiled from her hand, clearly not interpreting her gesture as a benign one. He tried to crawl even further backwards away from the girl, but his hand touched soft cloth instead, claws nearly ripping a hole in it. The boy turned his head back and noticed he was in a tent made of dark blue fabric, sunlight barely streaming through the shadowy material. "W-who are you?" He asked just as timidly as the last question.

"I'm Yuna. This is Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri." She told him in her most soothing tone, gesturing to each of them in turn. "Who are you?"

He turned his head to each of the people in the room as she pointed them out, then focused back on the girl now known as Yuna when she asked the question. "S-Seymour Guado." He stuttered as his fear-filled eyes fell on the menacing-looking Ronso again.

Lulu knelt down in front of him and looked at him. "So he is a Guado."

He turned his head to the girl in front of him with anger on his features. "Half." He spat out bitterly. "My mom is-was," he quickly corrected himself, "a human."

"Was?" Yuna questioned curiously. "You mean she died and didn't get sent?" She asked, rocking forward on her knees, too naïve to know just how personal the question she inquired of him was.

The boy known as Seymour finally snapped at that point and let out a pitiful wail of utmost sorrow before burying his face in the blanket around his body as his form shook with unrestrained sobs.

"Well, well. Looks like our guest has finally awoken." Braska commented as he leaned against a dresser, eyes twinkling with amusement at his daughter's panicked state, as though she had done something wrong.

Yuna immediately whipped her head back towards her father and rushed to his side before hugging him, nearly on the verge of tears herself. "I-I don't know what I did wrong, Papa. I just asked him what happened to his mama."

He stroked the back of his daughter's head until she calmed down, then knelt down in front of the eight-year old and drew him into a gentle embrace. He felt the child struggle slightly in his arms before reluctantly relaxing and leaning against his chest. The soon-to-be-summoner picked him up once he fell asleep and set him back on the cot before going out of the room with Wakka and Lulu following him.

Little Yuna, on the other hand, nervously walked up to the half-Guado and rand a hand through his azure hair. "What has happened to you to make you like this?" She whispered.


	2. A Shoulder to Cry on

Over the next few days, the boy, now recognized as Seymour, refused to say anymore details on the subject of his parents, or even where he came from. It seemed the only person he even succumbed to talk to was Braska. Little Yuna seemed more fascinated than jealous at the older boy's liking of her father, it was almost like he never met a person like him before, which to her seemed odder than the other child's looks. Eventually, she managed to find him alone on the beach, almost looking like he was fighting an imaginary monster with a stick in the most graceful and elegant way she had seen before. His sapphire, branch-like hair was slicing through the air with his every movement and the oversized, white clothes his father lent him until the tailor got finished with the clothes for the eight-year-old flapped in the wind his motions generated.

"Um…what are you doing?" She asked timidly of the half-Guado while walking up behind him.

The youth whirled around to face her immediately and raised the stick to point at her threateningly from her beholding his secret act. "What do you want?" He questioned coldly as he narrowed his eyes at her in distrust.

Yuna widened her eyes slightly and took a few steps back at the boy's unneeded hostility, but otherwise didn't show her fear. "Just wondering what you were doing. I've never seen anyone fight like that before." She said, unable to hide the awe in her voice from how agile he seemed in combat.

Seymour sighed and finally relented at the younger girl's eager tone, never hearing anyone ask something of him like that in the past. "If you really must know," he began in a slightly softer manner than before as he lowered the stick in his hand, "I was trying to summon something before you interrupted me."

She widened her eyes out of surprise this time as she walked towards him while tilting her head curiously. "You, summon something? I don't think you can. My dad's been training for a few years now to be a summoner and he still doesn't have an aeon." She said with a slight incredulous undertone.

The other child merely snorted at her doubtful attitude. "Look, I know what I can do, and summon is one thing I can. I summoned her before, and I can now!" He snapped at her cryptically before beginning to twirl around with the twig again.

The girl backed away again at his foul mood and merely watched him attempt to summon a creature unknown to her. It didn't seem to be working until a portal opened in the sky and a three-pronged anchor attached to a long chain fell from it and sank into the ground, ripping open a demonic-looking hole. The chain grew taut after a few seconds as the anchor hooked onto something and it slowly began pulling that object up. What came out of the pit was a monster taller than anything Yuna had ever seen. The four-year old tilted her head up to behold the creature's bandaged head with one, bright blue eye oozing blood, as though it were crying the crimson liquid, visible. Her eyes drifted down the aeon's body to see an amulet of a woman hanging from its neck by a pair of human arms holding it in place with a chain. Its arms were bound to its chest mummy-style by chains secured to the ground and a couple of blue and purple, venus fly trap-like leaves rose high on either side of the creature.

She watched as Seymour instantly dropped the stick and rushed over to the aeon he summoned before embracing it with a smile of utmost happiness spreading across his face, one he never came close to having since he's been on the island. Yuna then turned her body to the hill that led down to the beach as she heard angry voices and the clanking of armor in that direction. Within seconds, a group of Crusaders had reached the top of the knoll and charged down towards the creature, obviously mistaking it for a fiend.

Seymour finally turned his attention away from his aeon due to the battle cries of the warriors and spread his arms in front of the creature protectively. "Please don't!" He pleaded to unyielding ears, water pooling in his eyes, but refusing to fall. "She won't hurt anyone!" The appeals were unanswered as he was pushed into the sand by the leader once he reached the adamant child in order to get to the supposed 'fiend', ignoring the wailing of the child as he pounded his fists into the coast out of frustration of his helplessness and to avert his eyes from his aeon being cut down without resistance, due to him not giving her orders.

"You're lucky that we were close, kid." The leader began, putting the child on his feet by his arm after the pyreflies dispersed. "Who knows what that fiend could have done to you if we weren't."

"She wasn't a fiend!" He yelled, wrenching his arm from the older man's grip as orbs of water freely welled up and fell from his eyes. "She was my aeon!…And the only one I had…" He said in a barely audible tone, not noticing Yuna edging closer to him until she had her arms entwined securely around his upper body. He half-turned his body to look down with wide eyes at the girl who had given him the surprise embrace, heartbeat accelerating slightly out of embarrassment, and another emotion that felt much better.

"Please…calm down." She pleaded, sounding nearly as desperate as the older boy did merely moments ago as she was on the verge of tears. "I…can't stand people suffering." She tightened her arms around him slightly as she stared up at him with saucer-sized orbs, tears brimming in them.

Seymour simply gazed down into her multicolored eyes for a few more moments, head tilted in confusion. He was used to being treated with disgust, amazement, hatred, or a mixture of the three, not with compassion or gentleness as this girl had given him without having to. Without thinking, he returned the embrace, one hand gently tangling in her shoulder-length hair as the other curled around her back. "Thank you…so much…" He whispered, head resting on her shoulder while tears continued rolling down his face for a reason other than grief, for the rejected and lonely child had finally found someone to accept him, a friend.


	3. A Vow to be Honored

The days passed by quickly after that fateful day when the reclusive half-Guado opened up to Yuna. No one else seemed to be able to get him to say more than a few sentences at a time. Routinely, Braska or his wife had to check up on the pair several times a night to make sure they had really gone to sleep instead of feigning it. They would spend hours talking or playing on the shore or on the palm trees, though Seymour still avoided the topic of his parents. However, perfection in paradise can only last so long…

"Mister Braska! Mister Braska!" Seymour repeated in a panic while rushing off to the most fatherly figure in his life, the deep blue, lightweight robe he chose at the tailor's nearly causing him to trip.

The man in question turned to the child he had essentially adopted and hugged him gently to calm him down. "What's wrong, Little One?" He asked after he moved him to arm's-length away, examining him for wounds.

He sniffled a bit before answering. "Yuna, her mom, and I were walking along the beach and her mom suddenly collapsed for no reason! Yuna stayed with her and told me to come see you for help." The boy found himself instantly yanked after those words were uttered and struggled to keep up with the older male as he dashed off to his wife.

They found Yuna clinging to her immobile mother while sobbing, face buried in her parent's clothes. She lifted her head once she heard them coming, two tearstain trails running down her face. "I-is she going to be okay?" She inquired, almost keeping her voice from cracking.

Braska knelt down beside his lover and placed his index and middle fingers on her neck. "Hm, her pulse is normal." He concluded after a moment. He slid his arms under her body and gently picked her up before heading back to their home with the two children following him while giving each other worried glances.

* * *

Yuna's mother's condition continued to decline over the next few days. Braska's healing magic could do nothing to halt the sudden illness that ravaged his partner's body. News soon spread like wildfire around the island that she had fallen ill and the family's friends came to offer their condolences. Yuna stayed by her mother's side day and night, helping however she could, whether it be changing the damp rags on her forehead or bringing her food, which she barely touched. Seymour hovered over the girl protectively during this time, taking her into her room and tucking her in her bed whenever she fell asleep out of exhaustion before taking over the job of caring for her mother. Braska seemed to become a recluse, choosing to turn to books to try to find a cure all day and into the night, his readings always being fruitless. One day, when she was weak to the point of suddenly falling asleep, she bade the two children into her room.

"My adorable, little Yuna." She said, weakly stroking her daughter's auburn hair. "Please know that I always have and forever will love you."

"Yes, Mama…" She held her mother's hand in hers and squeezed tightly, only releasing her when she winced slightly. She stared into her eyes, tears ready to spill over and out of her multicolored orbs as she wrapped her arms around her tightly, letting go when she feebly pushed her off.

"M-may I talk to your friend here alone?" A quick nod was given before the girl obediently walked out of the room. She turned her head to the boy who remained in the room, looking at her with worry evident on his face. "Relax, young one." She told him while tenderly caressing his cheek, his clawed hand reaching up to gently hold the hand giving him affection as though he was her child, slight shock showing in his eyes from the unbridled adoration this woman revealed to him. "I can feel myself growing weaker by the minute. I know that I will be gone soon." She lightly pulled her hand out of the half-Guado's grip and wrapped it around him, pulling him close against her chest. "I can tell that something bad happened to you in the past. Just please know that not everyone is as bad as whoever harmed you and learn to let people into your life again." She winced as her eyes fluttered. "…I don't have much more time…Please take care of Yuna after I'm gone." A small nod from the boy she held offered confirmation that he would do what she whished and she let out a small sigh, happy to know that her daughter would be cared for after she passed on, before she closed her eyes one, final time.

Seymour felt the woman's arm around him go limp and heard her heartbeat cease pumping the life-giving fluid through her veins and arteries. He gently moved the motionless arm off of him and looked down at his adopted mother, a single tear falling from his face to land right below her collarbone, instantly seeping through her clothing. He gasped softly, realizing only now the hidden love he held for the now-deceased woman. The boy gently stroked her hand he still held with a thumbnail, being careful not to rip her skin, as he watched the pyreflies gather around the body they had come from before heading outside to tell Yuna the bad news.

* * *

The sun was shining brighter than usual, as though happy to be out, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Even the heavens were mocking the death of a woman who was taken before her time. Seymour squinted in the bright light beating down on him as he looked down at Yuna, smiling up at him while fidgeting to know what her mother told him. He gave a soft, but painful, smile in return. _"Such innocence."_ He commented mentally to himself before taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Yuna, but your mother passed away."

She widened her eyes as tears pooled within them again before burying her face in her hands and crying her heart out, restricting her breathing with heart-wrenching sobs.

The older child instantly pulled her close in a warm embrace. "Shhh." He crooned softly to her while rubbing her back. "It'll be okay. I'll always take care of you." Seymour vowed as he planted a light kiss on her forehead, holding her close as her sniffles and sobs eventually decreased in volume.


	4. Good News and Bad News

The months passed by slowly after Yuna's mother died. Sorrow hung in the air around the now-motherless family as Braska spent even more time studying, though the reason was unknown to the children. As when her mother was ill, Seymour spent his time watching over Yuna as though he was a replacement parent for the one she lost.

"Where are we going, Seymour?" Yuna asked the older boy as she chased after him, momentarily taken out of her sadness from Seymour saying he had a surprise for her.

The person in question chuckled softly and continued walking at a stride that made the girl behind him run to catch up. "It wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you, now would it?" He said with amusement in his voice.

The girl pouted at that. "A hint would be nice at the least."

Seymour stopped at her request and played with some of his hair that had grown branching out from the rest as he thought of how to give her a hint without spoiling it. "It's somewhere on this island." He said playfully before heading off to his destination again.

Yuna groaned softly, but still followed him. "I think I figured that out before you said that."

Eventually, they reached a cliff that jutted out and was far above the calm ocean. Seymour immediately rushed towards the lone palm tree that grew on the cliff and hid behind it from Yuna.

The brunette sighed and told him while heading behind the tree, "Seymour, we've gone over hide and seek before. I have to close my eyes before you-" She cut herself off as she reached the back of the tree and did not see him. She then circled around the tree a few times before hearing giggling from above her. She looked above her and saw Seymour clinging to the trunk of the tree with his nails. "You never told me you could do that!"

"You never asked." He said in reply while grinning at her. He climbed down the tree until he was close to the ground. "Piggyback ride?" He offered.

She eagerly accepted the offer, climbing onto his back while wrapping her arms around his neck as well as her legs around his waist. She looked down as they ascended and tightened her grip and buried her face in his clothes as she saw the ocean dashing against the cliff face far below them, thinking of the tales she had heard of people being crushed against the jagged rocks.

"Relax." Seymour whispered soothingly to her as he felt her tighten her grip. "I will never allow harm to come to you." He then grabbed her wrist as she nearly fell off him. "I didn't mean relax that much!" Luckily, he reached the top of the tree at that moment and put her on the top before climbing up next to her. "You like it?" He asked as he gestured to the perfect view they had of the sun sinking down below the horizon, golden rays of the fading light reflecting off the ocean's surface.

Yuna nodded happily and climbed into his lap. "So, is this the only surprise you had planned?" She asked as she looked back at his face that had a soft glow to it due to the sunset.

"It's the only thing I could think of. Is it not good enough?" He asked in return with worry in his eyes.

"No," She told him, placing a finger over his mouth, "I love this. I was just thinking of a surprise of my own."

He tilted his head curiously. "What do you mea-" He was silenced as the younger girl pressed her lips against his and he widened his eyes. He stared at her for a few seconds after she pulled away, mouth hanging open slightly. "W-what was that?" He finally managed to choke out as he touched his lips.

She giggled at Seymour's ignorance. "That was a kiss, Silly."

"B-but I thought you j-just kiss someone's head or c-cheeks." He continued to stammer.

Yuna ruffled his hair playfully. "Boyfriends and girlfriends kiss each other on the lips all the time."

"G-girlfriend?" He exclaimed as a deep blush spread across his face.

She frowned as sadness filled her eyes. "Well, I think we're more than friends, don't you agree?"

Seymour played with his hair as he thought her words over, his brow furrowed. Eventually, he nodded. "Yeah." He agreed. "You've treated me better in the short time we've known each other than most of the other people I've known."

She hugged his neck. "Good." She looked up and saw the stars twinkling down at them. "We should go back to the village. My dad's probably wondering where we are."

He nodded in agreement and descended the tree with Yuna clinging to his back with her face buried in his hair. After he reached the ground, he switched to holding her bridal style and headed back to the village as she played with his hair.

* * *

Once they were a short distance away from their destination, they noticed the fire in the center was blazing brighter than usual and a lot of noise was coming from the village.

"A celebration?" Seymour asked Yuna as he set her down, knowing the signs due to her having told him of what the village did for special occasions.

She shrugged as an answer. "I haven't heard anything about it and I don't think it's anyone's birthday." She told him before heading into her village.

Seymour slowly followed her, not moving as fast as usual due to curiously looking around at the decorations. The villagers had hung brightly-colored flowers tied together from door frames and poles. He saw a few children zip past him with paint on their faces that made them resemble various fiends around the island. They had also put different wood in the fire than usual so a sweet, fruity scent wafted from it while a table that contained fruit, vegetables, and meat sat near the fire. He made a mental note to grab some of the tasty-looking fruit after they found out what this was about.

Yuna eventually reached her father who was sitting near the fire exchanging words with some sad-looking villagers. "Papa," She said, tugging on his robe, "Why are we celebrating?"

Braska sighed as he looked at his daughter sadly. "My sweet, little Yuna." He said as he picked her up and set her in his lap, noticing Seymour was sitting on the ground near him. "Over these years, I've told you how Sin has been terrorizing the people of Spira. I have been studying spells and aeons with all the material I can find here. Tomorrow, I am setting out to try to bring about a Calm."

Yuna immediately jumped off of his lap. "No! I don't want to lose you too! There are plenty of summoners out there trying to stop Sin! The Calm will only last for ten years and then Sin'll come back and you'll still be dead!"

Braska sighed again and knelt down in front of her. "It's those ten years of being without Sin that I am fighting for, even if I can't enjoy it myself. Summoners sacrifice everything for the people of Spira and I'm okay with that. Now, come here, Sweetie." He said softly as he drew her into a hug.

She pushed him away and instead ran to Seymour and hugged him. "Say something to him to make him stay!" She begged him as she sobbed into his chest.

He looked up at Braska and sighed softly, knowing that look of unbreakable determination in his eyes. "I'm sorry, my Little Yun, but I can't persuade him not to leave." He told her soothingly as he stroked her hair, comforting her for the loss of her other parent this time around.


End file.
